Elephants Return and Rain!

The last week has seen us delighting in some marvellous wildlife viewing down at the waterhole with amongst others the return of the elephants whom we have not seen here for a couple of months.   

It is always an exciting moment when we see elephants at the waterhole and this time we were treated to the view of a sizeable breeding herd filling the waterhole.  Their visit at 8.00pm last Friday made for the start of a memorable week.

The elephant story has continued throughout the week with visits to the waterhole by one individual and two male elephants, often at around lunchtime when they have stayed around for a drink and a bath and allowed us and our lucky guests to enjoy some marvellous viewing.  On Monday, our guests had just arrived and were enjoying watching a whole host of animals, waterbuck, impala, warthog and giraffe when the elephants made their entrance on the scene.  We jumped in the vehicle and were rewarded with a magnificent close up view of the elephants and some fantastic photographs. 

 The weather has also delivered some extreme conditions; a couple of days of very high temperatures and then this week, two days of continuous rain resulting in 250mm of rain.  This was a very welcome boost to bush and will set us up for months to come.  It rivals the great rains of last January, which fell almost to a day the same as this year.  

A rain-expanded waterhole - it's normally half this size.

Thankfully the rain this year has not caused major flooding, but has allowed the dry river beds around us to flow and replenished the empty dams.  All in all, excellent news for the bush. The rain, which had begun on Tuesday morning finally stopped on Wednesday afternoon and at that point we were rewarded with the sight of a beautiful rainbow stretching across the sky.  A high point after two very soggy days. 

Our "dry" river in flow

That evening, as we sat having dinner with the trees dripping and the frogs providing an accompaniment to the meal one lion started to call in the distance and was answered close by with the unforgettable sound of the African bush – the deep, chest throbbing roar of the male lion.  We scanned the bushes with the torch but he was just out of sight.  The call was repeated several times and then silence – what an amazing experience. 

Leopard sighting on Boxing Day drive

A late afternoon drive on Boxing Day produced a very exciting find – this beautiful young leopard in a tree not far from our waterhole. 

We were on our way back to the lodge, passing a large group of impala.  They suddenly stopped feeding, became very alert and began alarm calling to each other, a sure sign of a preditor in the area.  We set off, following the source of the calls and drove slowly down the valley, scanning the bush and trees as we went.

 

 

 

We did not really expect to find anything as the bush is very thick at the moment, but quite soon we were rewarded with the fantastic sighting of this leopard in a tree, very close to the track.

The leopard was sitting in the crook of a marula tree where it stayed for some time, but it was not comfortable and climbed higher into the tree where it took up a classic 'leopard in a tree' pose. This of course was the one time we had not taken our camera.  Luckily our daughter was with us and took these wonderful pictures. 

 

Our neighbours were then lucky enough to see a second, larger leopard with the smaller one - possibly a mating pair or a mother with a sub-adult.  We hope they will stay around our area, we will definitely be searching the trees very carefully on future drives.

What a great way to celebrate Christmas!

 

Best wishes from Leopard's View for 2013.